The Finish Line

I am embarrassed to say I realized the other day that I had not written a blog post during the month of August. My only defense are deadlines. I have been writing several proposals — I’ve been entering more shows — and I spent a frantic two weeks (once school had started back) finishing my piece for the Fiber Art Fusion show. We hung it on Tuesday at The Art Place in Marietta, GA. I will post pictures of the show later. The artist’s reception will be on the 13th at 7pm — and it runs through this month only.

Interestingly, there was quite a bit of debate when the acceptance letters for Houston went out. It used to be that you’d receive a fat or skinny envelope and share the results on QuiltArt (an online forum that works on email) — but technology is speeding us forward. Now many of us have a presence on Facebook, a blog, a website — and we post pics of our work.

The debate is over whether that is fair. IQA judges felt that seeing work online before judging would affect their decisions — so they asked that all pictures of work accepted into the show be removed from the internet.

Which on the surface sounds reasonable. They want only virgin art in their show.

My first argument against this is that seeing a picture of a piece online and seeing it in person are two different kinds of experience. One enhances from the other — it doesn’t detract from it.

My other argument is how much it destroys creativity. My blog & my website are my creative endeavors. If I can’t show a piece that I intend to enter into a virgin show — my blog goes away. Most of my blog shows in process — none of that would then be possible.

I would also be holding pieces for as much as a year before I could publish them on my website — for a show that I might not get into.

IQA does not currently HAVE this rule — they are considering it. Quilt National has this rule — and they are biennial — which would mean that I would hold pieces as long as TWO years before I could publish them on my website.

Virgin rules would effectively take away my ability to interact with the world through my blog and my website — if I choose to enter them. It is my choice to enter them or not. I hope that IQA doesn’t add the virgin rules — because then I choose — my blog or their show.